The Wireless Theatre Company presents a very good comedy production by the team of Davis & McQuillan. I really like it. These guys are also fine musicians and the premise is all about the creation of their band. One of them hears the other playing at a local mall and being ignored by the sound of the crowd. He asks if the player wants to join a band. Which band? our band is the answer, so he says yes. I’m using “he” and “he” because I don’t know which is which of the characters Flagrin & Else who they play. Anyway, there is a breezy plot of sorts, but that is not why this show is pretty great. That reason is the clever dialog patter, including toying with musician’s terms, and the ridiculous songs that the two play. These songs are not only lyrically clever, but very well played compositions in parody of various pop genres. These guys can play and fortunately they are both on keys, no guitars.
If this were a hundred years ago DAVIS & MCQUILLAN would be making a good living in vaudeville touring, and touring (provided that they liked to ride in trains, could stand the train strain). They could have honed a great 15 minutes over the years and played it from town to town, for 20 years or so.
But now they are on the World Wide Web. And while they can potentially be heard by more people than a lifetime of touring in the old days, and they probably can’t leave their day jobs. (Busking at the mall?)
BBC Radio 4, are you listening? You should check these guys out.
As we leave the boys, one of them has been captured by pirates. I’m tired of sitting on the edge of my seat on the cliff, walking the plank. I’m ready for episode 2.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Boats on a River
This is a well crafted play by Julie Marie Myatt which I had the pleasure of hearing on The Play's the Thing. It is an LA Theater Works audio adaptation of the theatrical production originally commissioned by The Guthrie Theater.
The subject matter is the Cambodian child sex industry. It takes on the subject through the personal stories of people who work in a rescue shelter where they attempt to rehabilitate the girls caught up in this. We look at their motivations for the work they are involved in. The most curious is an American, Sidney Webb, who we find out is in fact married to a former "bar girl". They have two children, but despite that it is not working out for Mr. Webb. He cannot heal the wounds that she continues to carry. He is a man on a mission to save, and is frustrated by failing with the one closest to him. But why must he be the hero? Is it because of the guilt he carries? There is a scene between Webb and his wife which is the strongest in the play.
There is also a zealous young American who is working for an international rescue agency. His batched raid on a brothel opens the play. He needs to be a hero too. He also fails. The scenes between Webb and this young man are also quite effective.
We hear a recorded diary of an American sex tourist apparently on his first trip. Somehow this part was the weakest in the audio production. That could be because the multimedia video portion of the stage production cannot be used in the audio adaptation. He is a rather vague entity. But then again, this is not a play about the perpetrators. There is plenty of that sort of thing elsewhere and the lack of it in this production is one of its strengths. This is not an exploitation piece.
We hear the story and dreams of the three girls rescued in the raid. Their desires and dreams are small, to have some candy, own a bike, and huge, to have a new life as a boy.
The play uses the most effective way of telling such a story. It focuses on a few people and studies them rather than a just-the- facts sort of agitprop journalism. It is a thought provoking entertainment concerning an issue of global importance. As Julie Marie Myatt says in the interview portion of the "The Play's the Thing" presentation, the issue is not just in Cambodia, but everywhere.
I don't know where this can be heard. I couldn't find it on the LA Theater Works site. Maybe it will show up there later. I heard it via real audio at The Play's the Thing, but the week long freebee stream is now timed out.
The subject matter is the Cambodian child sex industry. It takes on the subject through the personal stories of people who work in a rescue shelter where they attempt to rehabilitate the girls caught up in this. We look at their motivations for the work they are involved in. The most curious is an American, Sidney Webb, who we find out is in fact married to a former "bar girl". They have two children, but despite that it is not working out for Mr. Webb. He cannot heal the wounds that she continues to carry. He is a man on a mission to save, and is frustrated by failing with the one closest to him. But why must he be the hero? Is it because of the guilt he carries? There is a scene between Webb and his wife which is the strongest in the play.
There is also a zealous young American who is working for an international rescue agency. His batched raid on a brothel opens the play. He needs to be a hero too. He also fails. The scenes between Webb and this young man are also quite effective.
We hear a recorded diary of an American sex tourist apparently on his first trip. Somehow this part was the weakest in the audio production. That could be because the multimedia video portion of the stage production cannot be used in the audio adaptation. He is a rather vague entity. But then again, this is not a play about the perpetrators. There is plenty of that sort of thing elsewhere and the lack of it in this production is one of its strengths. This is not an exploitation piece.
We hear the story and dreams of the three girls rescued in the raid. Their desires and dreams are small, to have some candy, own a bike, and huge, to have a new life as a boy.
The play uses the most effective way of telling such a story. It focuses on a few people and studies them rather than a just-the- facts sort of agitprop journalism. It is a thought provoking entertainment concerning an issue of global importance. As Julie Marie Myatt says in the interview portion of the "The Play's the Thing" presentation, the issue is not just in Cambodia, but everywhere.
I don't know where this can be heard. I couldn't find it on the LA Theater Works site. Maybe it will show up there later. I heard it via real audio at The Play's the Thing, but the week long freebee stream is now timed out.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Our Lenny
WNYC has been presenting Our Lenny "A 13-day Exploration and Celebration of Leonard Bernstein’s Enduring New York Legacy". It is all finishing up tonight but can be heard online.
Part of the presentation is the wonderful 11 part documentary,
Leonard Bernstein: An American Life. If you care at all about the musical and general cultural scene in the USA in the last part of the 20th Century, or if you are simply interested in listening to a great audio documentary, this one is not to be missed. Fortunately it is available in audio stream form here. I don't know how long they intend to keep it there, so give it a listen while you can.
There are other programs within Our Lenny that focus on particular works with guests commenting. I particularly enjoyed the West Side Story hour with Sport Murphy and host David Garland, because it is, well, it's West Side Story and that music has always made a major impression on me.
Part of the presentation is the wonderful 11 part documentary,
Leonard Bernstein: An American Life. If you care at all about the musical and general cultural scene in the USA in the last part of the 20th Century, or if you are simply interested in listening to a great audio documentary, this one is not to be missed. Fortunately it is available in audio stream form here. I don't know how long they intend to keep it there, so give it a listen while you can.
There are other programs within Our Lenny that focus on particular works with guests commenting. I particularly enjoyed the West Side Story hour with Sport Murphy and host David Garland, because it is, well, it's West Side Story and that music has always made a major impression on me.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
I read somewhere that a production company was preparing a new audio dramatization of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
It occurred to me that I had never read the original. I have seen a couple film adaptations years ago; Disney, one from 1933. I did a google search intending to look for the text. I ran across this production directed by Karen M. Chan. This is the unabridged novel with a full cast acting out the dialogue. They do a serviceable job presenting the material. I particularly enjoyed the Ed Wynn impersonation by J.I. Magnussun as Mock Turtle.
So if you are interested in Alice's Adventures you might want to check it out.
That said, I must admit that I while I find the Carroll's work fantastical, and somewhat grotesque, there is not much drama in it. There is no real danger or threat to be avoided through most of the piece. We simply go from one episode to the next meeting one odd character after another until the ending with the "off with her head" stuff. But even then the threat doesn't seem real, immediate, or particularly critical. There is no real connection between the characters. It's all rather clever and cold.
That said I feel that L. Frank Baum steals from Carroll and does him one better when it comes to drama and characters with emotional connection and depth. While we have the same, it's all a dream ending, the melodrama of the Baum book drives it forward and does a better job engaging the reader/listener. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the stronger work. Wired for Books, Karen M. Chan and all also do this book which I did not listen to having read the book not so long ago. But this might be a good way to compare one to the other.
Wired for Books also has many audio files of noted writers interviewed.
It occurred to me that I had never read the original. I have seen a couple film adaptations years ago; Disney, one from 1933. I did a google search intending to look for the text. I ran across this production directed by Karen M. Chan. This is the unabridged novel with a full cast acting out the dialogue. They do a serviceable job presenting the material. I particularly enjoyed the Ed Wynn impersonation by J.I. Magnussun as Mock Turtle.
So if you are interested in Alice's Adventures you might want to check it out.
That said, I must admit that I while I find the Carroll's work fantastical, and somewhat grotesque, there is not much drama in it. There is no real danger or threat to be avoided through most of the piece. We simply go from one episode to the next meeting one odd character after another until the ending with the "off with her head" stuff. But even then the threat doesn't seem real, immediate, or particularly critical. There is no real connection between the characters. It's all rather clever and cold.
That said I feel that L. Frank Baum steals from Carroll and does him one better when it comes to drama and characters with emotional connection and depth. While we have the same, it's all a dream ending, the melodrama of the Baum book drives it forward and does a better job engaging the reader/listener. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the stronger work. Wired for Books, Karen M. Chan and all also do this book which I did not listen to having read the book not so long ago. But this might be a good way to compare one to the other.
Wired for Books also has many audio files of noted writers interviewed.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Caesar Price our Lord
Well, I'm back to listening to BBC Radio 4. I listened to The Material World today on the iPlayer. The iPlayer worked flawlessly. I still prefer to use a stand alone player app if I can. When I use the iPlayer via Safari and continue to scroll other web pages it pauses. This is irritating. But the bottom line is that I really enjoy the BBC radio drama content, and view it as an enormous gift even if the wrapping paper is sticky and annoying at times.
And I'm happy to be listening to the plays again, I missed them.
The Afternoon Play production of Caesar Price our Lord by Fin Kennedy is quite an interesting show. "Roll up!" one and all.
Somehow I feel that BBC radio has covered this sort of topic before and I was expecting something lighter and silly. What I got was a beautifully crafted entertainment that drew me in at the very first with the sound design, Jon Nicholls's music with lot of synth strings, and a little nervous Bernard Herrmann-mish repeating line.
Then Lee Ingleby speaks as Caesar. This first speech set within the music and thunder claps, is delivered with such intimate, soft spoken conviction that I was instantly hypnotized, disbelief suspended, and ready for the ride.
From that first speech Lee Ingleby's performance is so sympathetic, so convincing, the quality of his voice so beautiful, I was really pulling for his character. I loved the guy and wanted him to be the second coming.
Of course, I didn't at all expect him to be. How could it have ended up that way? These things just don't. Yet there was the possibility. I mean, I don't really know how the universe works. There is always the remote possibility the my lord and savior could end up revealing himself to me through a radio drama, one that only I can hear.
This production is a little miracle in that they pulled it off at all and yet did so in a way that I was disappointed when I noticed the time was running out and it would have to end and I would no longer be surrounded (I listened with earphones) by these voices, these sounds. It might have been better with the hour long Saturday Play slot, or the Friday Play if that ever comes back.
Fin Kennedy produced a script that set me to thinking about matters such as the level of trauma in the lives of people in the public eye, and how dangerous that is in a mass media world. How many screwed up damaged individuals are we looking up to, the ones running things, the ones who need the power and wealth to make them feel secure, shelter them from the pain that they can not bare to allow in? How many times have we people followed leaders into death, a death that represents the only hope of salvation for the twisted leader who can't bare to look himself in the mirror and drags us all into his lethal scenarios of destructive distraction?
Yes I know, this is not what is on the surface of the drama. But I am here to present my subjective opinion and tell you were my mind goes during and after the show.
As I said before, this is a beautiful production all the way around. It is lucid, direct. We hear a sound cue, a "whoosh", a change in ambiance that tells us we are in the past, a flashback, or into someone's thoughts, memories.
A fun ride! Thanks to Fin Kennedy, Lee Ingleby, Jon Nicholls, Nadia Molinari and all.
The Afternoon Play
BBC Radio 4
The play can be heard here, through Thursday Oct. 2, 2008, via iPlayer, or whatever one can manage.
And I'm happy to be listening to the plays again, I missed them.
The Afternoon Play production of Caesar Price our Lord by Fin Kennedy is quite an interesting show. "Roll up!" one and all.
Somehow I feel that BBC radio has covered this sort of topic before and I was expecting something lighter and silly. What I got was a beautifully crafted entertainment that drew me in at the very first with the sound design, Jon Nicholls's music with lot of synth strings, and a little nervous Bernard Herrmann-mish repeating line.
Then Lee Ingleby speaks as Caesar. This first speech set within the music and thunder claps, is delivered with such intimate, soft spoken conviction that I was instantly hypnotized, disbelief suspended, and ready for the ride.
From that first speech Lee Ingleby's performance is so sympathetic, so convincing, the quality of his voice so beautiful, I was really pulling for his character. I loved the guy and wanted him to be the second coming.
Of course, I didn't at all expect him to be. How could it have ended up that way? These things just don't. Yet there was the possibility. I mean, I don't really know how the universe works. There is always the remote possibility the my lord and savior could end up revealing himself to me through a radio drama, one that only I can hear.
This production is a little miracle in that they pulled it off at all and yet did so in a way that I was disappointed when I noticed the time was running out and it would have to end and I would no longer be surrounded (I listened with earphones) by these voices, these sounds. It might have been better with the hour long Saturday Play slot, or the Friday Play if that ever comes back.
Fin Kennedy produced a script that set me to thinking about matters such as the level of trauma in the lives of people in the public eye, and how dangerous that is in a mass media world. How many screwed up damaged individuals are we looking up to, the ones running things, the ones who need the power and wealth to make them feel secure, shelter them from the pain that they can not bare to allow in? How many times have we people followed leaders into death, a death that represents the only hope of salvation for the twisted leader who can't bare to look himself in the mirror and drags us all into his lethal scenarios of destructive distraction?
Yes I know, this is not what is on the surface of the drama. But I am here to present my subjective opinion and tell you were my mind goes during and after the show.
As I said before, this is a beautiful production all the way around. It is lucid, direct. We hear a sound cue, a "whoosh", a change in ambiance that tells us we are in the past, a flashback, or into someone's thoughts, memories.
A fun ride! Thanks to Fin Kennedy, Lee Ingleby, Jon Nicholls, Nadia Molinari and all.
The Afternoon Play
BBC Radio 4
The play can be heard here, through Thursday Oct. 2, 2008, via iPlayer, or whatever one can manage.
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